Fresh Eyes

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

One of the greatest challenges in our life is the challenge of familiarity. To give you a better idea of what I mean, let me give you a few examples. You have a crack that runs along the ceiling in your house. That crack has been there for the last 5 years. You are now familiar enough with it that you don’t even notice its presence, however; a first time visitor to your home notices this same crack right away.

Let me give you another example. A person who has pets in their home no longer notices the smell of fur and pet dander, but a first time visitor notices it immediately.

Familiarity numbs the senses. This also happens spiritually. We allow certain things into our lives on a regular basis that harm us spiritually. Over time we get used to these things, so they no longer prick our conscience.

Fortunately for us, as we spend time in God’s presence He gives us His vision and we begin to see our lives in a new way:

Isaiah 42:7 (NLT)

You will open the eyes of the blind and free the captives from prison. You will release those who sit in dark dungeons.

When we see through God’s eyes, the cracks, flaws and shortcomings are more readily visible. We once again smell the stench of old habits and we become keenly aware of issues in our lives that need to be dealt with.

This week I want to challenge you to pray along these lines. Ask the Lord to give you a fresh viewing of your life. Take note of the cracks in the foundation and the smells in the corner. As these things become apparent to you take time to confess those before the Lord. Even people need a thorough cleaning every now and then.

Until next Monday may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Time to re-evaluate?

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend and a relaxing Father’s Day. This weekend was an exciting weekend for me. The church hosted its first car “Cruisin’ for the Son” car show. Anytime I can get around classic and high performance automobiles I am energized. These car shows quickly expose any covetous spirit that might be within me.

This morning I want to discuss the idea of re-evaluating your plans and direction. One of my favorite passages of Scripture gives a great example of this:

Acts 16:6-8 (NLT)

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had told them not to go into the province of Asia at that time. [7] Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go. [8] So instead, they went on through Mysia to the city of Troas.

Let me help you see the highlights here for a moment. Paul and Silas are on a missionary and their initial plan is to travel into the province of Asia, but the Holy Spirit intervenes and they change course. Paul and Silas next head toward the borders of Mysia with the intention of going to Bithynia, but again the Holy Spirit intervenes and turns them into a new direction to the city of Troas. While in Troas, the Apostle Paul has the following vision:

Acts 16:9-10 (NLT)

That night Paul had a vision. He saw a man from Macedonia in northern Greece, pleading with him, "Come over here and help us." [10] So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, for we could only conclude that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.

There are times in life when we set out on a specific course, but we continue to encounter barriers and obstacles. You have probably been in this circumstance before. No matter how much planning was undertaken, the obstacles continue to arise. It is at these times that we need to ask of God: “What should I be doing now?”

As I look back through my life I see many times when the Holy Spirit placed barriers before my plans, because He was guiding me in an entirely different direction than what I had envisioned.

In the case of Paul and Silas, God was going to use them in Macedonia. Macedonia, unfortunately, was not in Paul and Silas’ immediate plans. So God intervened, through the Holy Spirit’s leading, and Paul and Silas were given a new course for their missionary work.

This week if you find yourself coming up against barrier after barrier, you may find that God is leading you in some new directions. Be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He leads you to God’s perfect will for your life.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Nothing is Wasted

Good morning! I hope your week is off to a great start and that your weekend was refreshing.

How many of you used to watch the TV show McGyver? McGyver seemed to escape every trap, quandary and difficult situation through the use of the common, everyday objects that were near him. There wasn’t hardly anything he couldn’t put to use.

My dad has always been that way too. I remember as a kid, him teaching me to make a radio with a used pharmaceutical bottle and copper wire. He was always inventing, creating and modifying using things that were normally found around our house.

This thought brings me to the following verse from Proverbs:

Proverbs 12:27 (NLT)

Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find.

Recent studies say that the average American generates 4.4 pounds of garbage per day. We unfortunately live in a throw away society. Disposable diapers, disposable batteries, single serving meals…the list goes on.

We have, as a society, moved away from being good stewards of all that has been given to us. We readily choose convenience and instant gratification over resource management and diligence.

Each of us has things in our lives that could be put to better use. Maybe you have some clothes that could benefit a family in need. Maybe that old car could serve a family that has no transportation. Maybe with a little thought and creativity, some of that junk in your storage room could find new use and purpose in some other way.

This week ask God to make you the best steward of all that He has given you. Ask Him to give you new ideas and new uses for the things that have long since fulfilled the original purpose. And as you mother used to remind you at the dinner table…you may not need it, but somewhere in the world someone in the world would love to have that very same thing.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Correction

Good morning! I hope your weekend was refreshing and that you find yourself energized this morning as you move into the new work week.

This past week my family and I took our summer vacation to northern New Mexico. I have always enjoyed going to the mountains and this vacation was no different. I am always awestruck by the awesome grandeur of God’s creation.

This trip for us was unique though, because we allowed our 16 year old to drive much of the journey. Christopher has been driving a little less than a year and this was his first experience with long haul highway driving and out of town driving.

Now Christopher is a good driver, for the most part, but there were times that I had to correct his driving behavior. Now I’m sure that Christopher didn’t find the correction to be real fun, but it kept him from killing us…so it was a critical and necessary part of the learning process.

Notice what the Bible says along these lines:

Proverbs 12:1 (NLT)

To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.

None of us likes to face discipline or correction, but when we look back over our lives we find that some of our greatest learning experiences came from those times. As a child I learned respect for others on the receiving end of the paddle. It is a lesson that has stuck with me for life. In fact one of my stated core values is “people matter.” Even though I wasn’t appreciative of the spankings then, I’m eternally grateful for the lessons taught today.

By the same token, we need to realize that God also loves us enough to discipline us. There are times that if we were to continue our course uncorrected we would harm ourselves and possibly others with our reckless abandon. There are many times, when I have faced God’s tough hand of discipline, but I find that once again these have been some of my greatest experiences of personal growth.

Today you may find yourself on the receiving end of correction. Don’t get angry, but instead put on your pupil’s hat and learn the lessons well. You are being taught and molded for greater things.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl